PAUL-HOETAWA FAMILY

The Family and Ancestors of
Fay PRATT (nee McKennie)

I launch this waka, this page, into cyberspace; on a new journey of discovery on the way from Hawaiki to Hawaiki. Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena ra koutou katoa.

Although I have only 1/6 Maori blood, I am proud of
the heritage passed down from this side of my family tree. It is a history that is rich in
culture, legend, and myth. I record what follows so that the information I have gathered
will be of interest to my decendants, and so that it will continue to be passed on.

Josephine Paul-Hoetawa

Mother

b. 21-4-1931

d.

Rupapera Paul-Hoetawa

G.Father

b. 1-3-1898

d. 29-7-1961

Haromi Tamihana

G.Mother

b. 20-3-1899

d. 8-7-1981

Paora Hoetwawa

G.G.Father

b.

d.

Ripeka Tangiahua Waiti

G.G.Mother

b.

d. 10-9-1955

Wi Tamihana

G.G.Father

b.

d. 5-10-1943

TeOwai TeNaihi

G.G.Mother

b. 1867

d. 19-6-1956

Robert White (Waiti)

G.G.G.Father

b.

d.

History
of my Maori Ancestors Migration to New Zealand

Hawaiki, is the legendary homeland
of the Maori peoples of Aotearoa/New Zealand, from whence they migrated to this land about
1000 years ago. Where is Hawaiki? Many have speculated that it lies somewhere in the
Pacific, somewhere in Polynesia.

Modern scholars tell us that more
than 15,000 years ago the Maori lived on the land called China, and that from there they
travelled via Taiwan and the Philippines to Indonesia. About 6,000 to 9,000 years ago they
moved on through Melanesia and reached Fiji about 3,500 years ago. From there to Samoa and
on to the Marquesas 2,500 years ago. Perhaps that was the limit of their eastern migration
for it seems that 1,700 years ago they turned South West to Tahiti, thence to the Cook
Islands and on to Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Archaeological evidence suggests that they first arrived in New
Zealand from the Cook Islands in about 800 AD. Several
later waves of Maori immigrants appear to have settled in New Zealand over the following
500 years. The last wave of Maori voyagers came from Tahiti
about 1350 AD. The Maori immigrants are thought to have mixed with the Moriori, a people
of unknown origin, who had settled on the eastern coast of New Zealands North
Island.

Maori ancestors gradually
settled the land of Aotearoa/New Zealand in many sea-going canoes called 'waka'.
My own ancestors came in two waka called Takitimu and Kurahaupo,
about 30 generations ago. My tribes which descend from those ancestors are Ngai Tara,
Ngati Rangitane, Ngati Kahungunu and Ngai Te Whatuiapiti.

Tribal stories tell that at the
death of our bodies, our spirits live on and journey back to Hawaiki; to the meeting place
of the spirits at Great Hawaiki, Long Hawaiki, Hawaiki far away. Life then is a journey
from Hawaiki to Hawaiki, the spiritual homeland of the Maori. And Hawaiki is with us
always, carried in our hearts through thousands of generations, and thousands of years of
migration; carried also through the lifetime of a single heart wherever it may journey.

The Maori, native
inhabitants of New Zealand, numbering about 430,000, constitute approximately one-eighth
of New Zealands population. More than 95 percent of Maori live on New Zealands
North Island. Many Maori live in the East Cape area, where they form the majority of the
population. Others live in the large cities of New Zealand such as Auckland and
Wellington. Most Maori speak the Maori language, a branch of the Austronesian languages,
as well as English.

Before the arrival of
European colonists in the late 18th century, the Maori settled throughout New Zealand and
developed a distinctive culture. The Maori economy varied from region to region. In the
North Island area where the soil was fertile, cultivation of the sweet potato, or kumara,
provided the staple food supply. In other parts of the interior, roots, birds, rats, and
freshwater fish made up their diet. On the seacoast, fish was the principal food.

In most Maori communities, men
hunted and ploughed, while women weeded, wove, and cooked. Group activities included food
gathering, food cultivation, and warfare. Individuals specialized in different arts:
poetry, oratory, tattooing, and the carving of wood, bone, and stone. Communal buildings
were elaborately decorated with wood carvings. Many Maori wore highly decorative personal
ornaments such as amulets and carved stone pendants.

The Maori lived in villages that were generally
guarded by a fort. The people were divided into several tribes, or iwi, each made
up of descendants of a common ancestor. Groups of tribes were allied in confederations
called a waka. Each tribe was made up of a number of hapu, or clans, which
in turn were composed of family groups called whanau.Primogeniture,
or inheritance by the first born son, was basic to the social system and determined the
succession of the highest chief, the ariki.

The Maori held many beliefs in common with other
Polynesians, including concepts such as tapu (taboo),
mana (prestige or honor of a social group or individual), mauri (life
force), utu (revenge), and makutu (sorcery). The Maori believed in a number
of gods, including Tane-mahuta, lord of the forest, and Tangaroa, a Polynesian ocean god.
Tribal dignitaries, such as the higher priests and the chief, also believed in a supreme
god, Io, whose existence was not revealed to the community. All Maori believed in a great
number of atua, or spirits, who responded to magical spells and punished people for
breaking taboos.

Dutch navigator Abel Tasman was the first
European to encounter the Maori. Four members of his crew were killed in a bloody
encounter with Maori on the South Island in 1642. In 1769 British explorer James Cook
established friendly relations with some Maori. By 1800 visits by European ships were
relatively frequent. Maori quickly learned to read and write, and they highly valued books
and printing presses. They also prized muskets, which they used to devastating effect in
tribal wars. In 1840 representatives of Great Britain and Maori chiefs signed the Treaty
of Waitangi, which established British rule, granted the Maori British citizenship, and
recognized Maori land rights. Although many of the treatys provisions are still
disputed, it became the basis of official relationships between Maori and British
settlers.

In 1841 New
Zealand officially became a colony of Great Britain. Many European settlements were soon
established. Between 1843 and 1872 violent conflicts between the Maori and European
colonizers, known as the New Zealand Wars, arose over conflicting claims to land. In 1856
Maori elected their first intertribal leader, King Potatau I, also called Te Wherowhero.
The movement to unite Maori under a single ruler, known as the Maori King Movement (Kingitanga),
enjoyed mixed success. Although its authority was never universally acknowledged, the King
Movement was influential in encouraging Maori unity. The descendents of Potatua I, formed
the Te Wherowhero dynasty, and continue to lead the Maori King Movement today.

Generally Maori lived in small rural communities separated from the European
settlements. The Maori population declined rapidly as a result of the wars and European
diseases, such as influenza, measles, and whooping cough, to which they had little
resistance.

The Maori population fell from
about 120,000 in 1769 to 42,000 in 1896. In the late 19th century, European settlers spoke
of the Maori as a "dying race." In the 20th century the Maori population recovered. Only 11 percent of
Maori were city dwellers in 1936, but by the 1980s more than 90 percent of the Maori
population lived in urban areas.

Whakapapa
"Papa" is anything broad, flat and hard such as a flat rock, a slab or a board.
"Whakapapa" is to place in layers, lay one upon another. Hence the term
Whakapapa is used to describe both the recitation in proper order of genealogies, and also
to name the genealogies. The visualisation is of building layer by layer upon the past
towards the present, and on into the future. The whakapapa include not just the
genealogies but the many spiritual, mythological and human stories that flesh out the
genealogical backbone. Due to the modern practice of writing whakapapa from the top of the
page to the bottom the visualisation seems to be slowly changing to that of European
genealogy, of "descending" from our ancestors. The Maori term for descendant is
'uri', but its more precise meaning in terms of Maori mental processes is offspring or
issue.

The term "Te Here Tangata", literally The Rope of
Mankind, is also used to describe genealogy. I visualise myself with my hand on this rope
which stretches into the past for the fifty or so generations that I can see, back from
there to the instant of Creation, and on into the future for at least as long. In this
modern world of short term political, social, economic and business perspectives, and
instant consumer gratification, Te Here Tangata is a humbling concept.

Discovering your Iwi/Tribe
Whakapapa includes not just human genealogies, but is also used as a metaphor for the act
of Creation and for the evolution of the Universe and all living creatures within it. The
diligent researcher will therefore be able to quite easily trace his or her ancestry back
through the 800 to 1000 years of human occupation to the first settlers and to their waka
(canoe), on from there to the gods, and thence to the very act of creation. The recorded
human genealogies reach back for 30 generations and more.

Te Korekore

First state of creation
(energy or potential)

Te Po

Second state (form)

Te Ao Marama

Third state (emergence)

Aho

Strand of learning

Te Aho Tuatahi

Cosmic genealogies

Te Aho Tuarua

Epochal genealogies

Te Aho Tuatoru

Evolutionary genealogies

Te Aho Tuawha

Human genealogies

Whenua

Umbilical link to Papatuanuku
(Earth Mother)

Aho Makawerau

Topknot link to Ranginui (Sky
Father)

Tahuhu

Main genealogical line

Kawai

Descent lines from Tahuhu

Roroa

Descent lines from Tahuhu

Kauheke

Ancestors

Rarangi

Genealogical list of ancestors

Whakamoe

Multilinear listing of
ancestors

Taotahi

Reciting in a single line of
descent

Tararere

Female lines

Whakapiripiri

Establishing genealogical
links between the home people and visitors

Ara poaka

Lengthening of genealogy to
gain seniority

Tatai hikohiko

Truncating genealogy to show
only illustrious ancestors

Kauwhau

Tracing genealogies

This page was created using MS FrontPage2000, and a bit
of HTML. Nothing here is intended to be a breach of Copyright, and the graphics shown were
either created by me, or are Copyright of their individual owners.